


Glory

by opalheart12



Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-25 06:17:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14372712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalheart12/pseuds/opalheart12
Summary: The two of them have been dancing around their feelings for each other for a while now. Sleep deprived and at their wits ends, will Abbie and Crane finally admit their love for each other when the walls are down? 2 part fic.





	Glory

**Author's Note:**

> This story is inspired by the Lana del Rey song "Money, Power, Glory". I'd recommend listening to it on repeat while you read this since that's what I did while I wrote it. Hope you all enjoy!

**_You say that you wanna go_ **   
**_To a land that's far away_ **   
**_How are we supposed to get there_ **   
**_With the way that we're living today?_ **

****Money, Power, Glory by Lana del Rey

* * *

To say that it had been a long week would be a massive understatement. Neither of them had gotten more than two or three hours of sleep and they were both unreasonably sore from fighting one supernatural entity or the other.

“I don’t wanna go anyway. I’m dog tired.” Abbie said from the kitchen table. She’d woken up to a sore neck and a stiff back from falling asleep there. Now, Frank was trying to convince her to attend the Sleepy Hollow Winter Ball in a few hours. She’d already purchased a dress for it weeks ago but, had she known she would be running on fumes the day of, she might have given buying it a second thought. 

“Abbie, you already have the dress! Are you gonna let it go to waste? Besides, you can’t leave me trapped in here with these stuffy old white people all night. It’s bad enough Jenny isn’t coming, but you can’t cancel on me too!” Frank’s voice was pleading from the other end and Abbie felt her eyes roll as she realized she was about to commit to going to this stupid event.

“Fine. I might arrive late though.” 

After hanging up with Frank, she stood and stretched as best as she good, groaning with pleasure as her bones popped and muscles extended. The problem was that she felt like jelly after and wanted nothing more than her bed. But she’d made a promise and she intended to keep it.

The first thing she needed was a long hot bath. She had a few hours until she needed to get ready anyway. Abbie made herself a glass of wine and brought it with her to the bathroom before running her bath. She had gotten some oils and a few bath bombs a couple months ago but she never got around to using them. “No time like the present,” Abbie muttered to herself as she watched the water fizz and change color, releasing a heavenly smell into the air.

She found candles from around the house and lit them in the bathroom. All that was left was music. After retrieving the small pill speaker from her room and connecting it to her phone, she scrolled until she found the playlist she made for moments like this and pressed shuffle. Abbie turned the volume up as loud as her ears could handle without buzzing and undressed before getting into the practically scalding water.

Crane wouldn’t be back for a few hours yet as he’d gone to the archives to do some research he’d been working on. Abbie didn’t know and she certainly didn’t ask. As she leaned back in the tub, she closed her eyes and allowed the warm water to envelop her and pull away any soreness she’d been feeling throughout the week as the music filled the room.

She thought about her relationship with Crane or lack thereof. Abbie certainly was in love with him but she would never tell him that. He surely would never be able to return her affections ad she was fine with that. As a Witness, she had long ago come to terms with the fact that love was something she might not ever get to experience. And that was okay, really, because how could she love someone given her purpose and duty in life? There was no one on the face of the earth who would ever understand her. No one except Crane.

Abbie could see steam rising from her body now the longer she sat in the water. She could feel a thin sheen of sweat on her face. She closed her eyes and took a breath before fully submerging herself in the water. For a few moments, she felt safe and enclosed, like nothing could hurt her. She wondered how it might feel to stay under forever, away from being a Witness, away from all those demons and other creatures who would prefer she be dead. Before her line of thought could go any further she felt herself being yanked up out of the water. 

She gasped and took in a deep breath before opening her eyes. Abbie nearly jumped a foot in the air when she realized Crane’s face was only a few inches away from her own. “What the fuck did you do that for?” She yelled as she backed away from him. 

“My apologies, Lieutenant, I…” He seemed at a loss for words. “I thought something had...that you drowned.” His hands wrung nervously and twitched in her direction as if he needed to touch her to make sure she was alright.

“How the hell did you get in here anyway? Were you watching me?” Abbie knew it was a bit of a low blow considering how much Crane harped on and on about propriety 

His face grew red and he backed away slightly. “I most assuredly did not watch you like some common scoundrel! And if you must know, the door was wide open and I heard nothing to indicate you were here. I moved closer and saw you submerged and….I panicked.” Crane’s voice cracked on his last few words and Abbie suddenly felt awful.

She huffed as she returned to her original position of sitting up before reaching out to turn the handle for the hot water with her feet. “I should’ve closed the door,” Abbie mumbled. She waited a few more seconds and turned the water off.

A silence stretched between them and Abbie was suddenly aware that she was very naked. Crane, however, was staring fixedly at a spot on the wall well above her head and she saw that he’d held a towel stretched out in front of him to block his view of her. She couldn’t help but burst out laughing. 

He glanced down slightly, enough to see only the top of her head over the towel and frowned. “What on earth is so funny?”

Abbie felt her stomach grow sore the longer she laughed. Finally, she was able to catch her breath. “It’s just...the towel isn’t really necessary, Crane. You saw me when you pulled me out of the water, you know.”

“Yes, but you had not given me permission to look upon you in such an intimate way, so I tried not to. That would have been dishonorable to me.” Crane’s face reddened even more as if that were even possible.

Abbie sighed and let out a soft laugh. “Crane, put the towel down. We’re not children.” 

He seemed reluctant to do so but he followed her instruction nonetheless. He still looked somewhere above her head, though his fingers twitched furiously. The candles cast a soft glow on his face and his electric blue eyes glinted with something Abbie couldn’t give a name to just yet.  He wordlessly dropped the towel, his face now nearly identical with a cherry. 

“You can look at me, you know,” Abbie said after a moment. Crane seemed to ignore her and his jaw clenched as he resisted the urge to just do what she said. Something hot and swift traveled through her and she stood, suddenly annoyed. “Well, you can leave now. I have things to do before the ball tonight.” 

Why couldn’t Crane ever just  _ see _ her the way she wanted him to? They had already been through so much together, yet she never felt like he knew her the way she wanted him to. Some part of him, and probably the part that was the proper Brit and American soldier, would always be guarded against her. It frustrated her to no end. 

He nodded as if her words were far away. “As you wish, Lieutenant.”

Crane closed the door behind him and it felt louder than it should have, considering that her music was still at full volume. Abbie rolled her eyes and set about finishing her bath. She washed her hair and deep conditioned it before finally bidding a somewhat sorrowful goodbye to that warm water that had relaxed and calmed her for only a few moments. 

She took some time to moisturize and spray her best perfume before getting to the task of her hair. A few weeks ago, she’d thought she might have it straightened for the ball, but that was certainly out of the question now. Instead, she gave herself an elaborate halo twist that Jenny would have been more than proud of and left the bathroom.

Crane was nowhere to be found when she stepped out, and she assumed he’d left out again or had gone to the living room to read. Shrugging with indifference, Abbie went into her room and began getting ready for the ball. Her makeup would have to be first as it would take the longest. She’d taken her pill speaker with her, music from her favorite playlist still blaring through. For the next hour, she concentrated on making her face look even more beautiful than it usually was and the process almost made her forget about the incident with Crane in the bathroom. 

Until she needed him to help her with her dress.

“Crane!” She yelled out over the music, annoyance lacing her voice. Abbie wasn’t sure why, aside from the obvious reasons, she felt so bothered by Crane. It could have everything to do with the fact that her heart beat a little faster when he was around or her hands went clammy when they were in close proximity. Or it could have nothing to do with any of that. 

“Is something wrong?” His languid voice startled her from the doorway as she tried to fish herself out of her thoughts. 

She had taken the dress out of the closet and put it on for the most part. “Just need you to zip me up.” Abbie took in a small breath as he came over to her and did as she asked. 

The ghost of his touch up her spine did things to her that she wasn’t comfortable confronting just yet. When his hands got to the nape of her neck, she felt him lean closer to her and inhale. Her hands went into fists and she shuddered involuntarily. She felt his breath prickle against that juncture between her neck and shoulder and felt her insides go molten.

“Lieutenant,” he breathed out. “You smell heavenly.” 

Abbie pulled away and turned to face him. There was that look again in his eyes, the one from the bathroom. She felt herself being drawn closer to him and noticed his eyes flicker down to her lips hungrily. Her mouth went dry. “Thank you for your help.” The words sounded rushed and seemed to break whatever trance had overcome them.

She wormed her way around him and went to stand in the mirror to examine her look. The dress was beyond gorgeous and made her look like goddess painted silver. Her earrings, large and dangling mini chandeliers, framed her face and brought out her eyes. The strappy heels she’d chosen added four or five inches to her regular height, though she was still considerably shorter than Crane was. “Damn,” she breathed out. “I look  _ good _ .”

“More than good, Ms. Mills. You look positively arresting.” Crane looked stunned as his eyes ran over her body and she fought the feeling that he was mentally undressing her. 

Abbie smiled at him and snatched her silver clutch from the dresser. “Thank you, Crane. I’ll see you later tonight.” She was gone suddenly, leaving only the scent of her behind. Crane tried his hardest not to breathe it in, truly he did, but he couldn’t help it. It was the closest thing he had to her being with him. It was all he could ever have.


End file.
